


Escape From Slabside

by The_White_Wolf



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22288282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_White_Wolf/pseuds/The_White_Wolf
Summary: Oliver was forced into Slabside Maximum Security after being extorted into ousting himself as Green Arrow. His wife, Laurel, attempts all legal avenues to get him released to no avail. The only solution is to go outside the law, to ensure that Oliver is not kept imprisoned for life, and surrounded by his enemies.
Relationships: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen
Comments: 13
Kudos: 24





	1. Pretty Bird

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by Daredevil: The Devil in Cell-Block D Comic story arc, and also draws from the Green Arrow comics.
> 
> Each chapter should be released each Wednesday.
> 
> I would like to thank Maquis_Leader for helping me with Mia's voice, her history and directing me where to look for her character in the comics. Also a special thanks to Ray_Writes, and The Lauriver Discord for looking over my drafts and providing me with feedback.

He pinched his brow, as it had been lights out for almost an hour. Oliver extended his arm upwards to grab the hardcover book that was sitting on his lone shelf. He opened the book, to find the last page he was reading. Upon opening to the page, he saw the photograph that he was using as a bookmark with the dim light from outside; Him, Laurel, William, and Mia Dearden.

Seeing his family put a smile on his face as he remembered finding the orphan girl who had been living on the streets of The Glades, with nothing to her name beyond the clothes on her back. For the longest time, she didn't talk of her time before she had been rescued. Until a few months later, after she started to trust people again, did she reveal to him and Laurel that her father used to abuse her.

The skinny blonde fourteen-year-old was a feisty tenacious girl, and it wasn't long before Laurel had adopted the girl, and taken her under her wings. And right now, she was under the spotlight from the media, and he was the cause of it.

He was the one who had capitulated to Agent Watson's demands, to protect the team, his family, all to prevent Ricardo Diaz from establishing himself as The Kingpin of Star City. Oliver pressed a gentle kiss to his middle and index finger before pressing it on the photograph.

The media was currently hounding Laurel about Mia's health, how she had contracted HIV, and whether it had anything to do with his vigilantism. They were harassing his daughter and wife, and yet he could do nothing. He was stuck here, behind bars.

At one point in his life, he would have gladly accepted his place here, that he would have deserved incarceration, in order to atone for his crimes. But he had everything to live for, an intelligent son, that he, Laurel and Samantha had agreed upon a custody agreement, in which he would get to have his son home, for a few weeks during the holidays, and occasionally a weekend. It was all down the drain now. After witnessing how the media was harassing William's adopted half-sister, Samantha thought it was prudent to keep William away from him, and Star City.

Mia, while not as academically minded as William, was still passing her classes with flying colors, but her passions were more directed towards gymnastics, she had already received a trophy for coming third in her heat. It was at that moment when he, Laurel and Speedy watched her win a trophy for coming first in her competition did he finally understand a parent's pride in their child. Something he hadn't been able to experience with William. Something that he knew both his parents had occasionally had for him, and definitely for Thea.

He also had his beautiful wife, Laurel, and he had rekindled their relationship, and together they were enjoying married life. And this, him being in prison was just another road bump in their lives, they had endured and overcome all the other obstacles, like his infidelity, they would endure this even if this was not the marriage that either had in mind, with her trying to get him out of this cell, whilst looking after their daughter.

He placed the photograph back into the book and laid on the thin mattress, his hands clasping behind his head. Laurel, despite her mourning her father's murder and looking after Mia, had somehow managed to perform a legal miracle and get him into the protective wing.

It wasn't long before the guard, who decided to be obnoxious, like clockwork, Guard Yorke, rattled Oliver's cage with his nightstick. Oliver slowly sat up, glaring at the man.

"Morning 4587, Beautiful day."

Oliver blinked, "Is it?" He asked, as he looked around his familiar cell, and marked another stroke on his tally. Thirty-five days. Five weeks in Slabside and god only knows how long he was going to stay here, weeks, months, years, the rest of his life?

"I suppose that depends on you, Green Arrow. It seems like you missed roll-call, last night." He sneered as he tossed the newspaper on the floor through the bars. The picture had caught his eye, someone was wearing his suit.

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut, and groaned, clutching his side as he bent down to scoop up the paper in his hands. Before he took a glance at the paper, he said, "I've told you countless times, Yorke, I'm not the Green Arrow. I was proven innocent by The Late Captain Lance's investigation twice."

"And I'm the Virgin Mary." Yorke, taped the bar again, as he scoffed, "In this castle, everyone is _innocent_. Rapists, Murders, Gangbangers. Every one of them. And maybe your late father-in-law deserved to be in here bunking with you. Since he was covering for you."

"Talk about me all you want, but please do not sully his reputation." Quintin was a good man, and despite his flaws, he was a good father who loved his daughters. It was he, who Oliver had tried to emulate when he had taken the role of a father to Mia, and started to be a father to William.

Oliver then eyed the paper to see someone wearing a variant of his suit. It was too dark to make out who was wearing the green suit, seemed to have a mask, and the darkness obscured their build. He hoped it wasn't Laurel in that suit. She had hinted to him earlier that the city needed a Green Arrow, he thought they were on the same page, that she was to stay away from vigilantism and look after their daughter and focus on his case.

Oliver looked up from the newspaper to Yorke, "You do realize that I haven't been convicted of a crime? That I'm waiting for my trial?"

"I don't give a rat's furry ass, you are here, in a federal penitentiary, Queen. I don't give a damn about why you are here! And the word around is that you won't make it to trial. It's not as if they are rushing to hear your case, no matter how many times your wife cries to the Feds."

"Trust me, if she _cried,_ they would have _heard_ her." Laurel had steadfastly refused to waive his right to a swift trial, but the way the courts seem to be taking their sweet time, he was forced to assume that their definition of swift was vastly different to normal people.

**::-:-:-::-:-:-::**

Mia walked into her family's loft. _Family_. It was still something that didn't seem real to her, her father had forced himself onto her when she was only twelve, her breasts had only started to develop. Then after everything that happened, she was forced on the streets, and had to offer her body to just keep breathing.

Then she was given hope, a chance to live. A chance to be what she wanted to be. Her knights in black and green had saved her from further exploitation by more men who wanted to use her to get off. Laurel and Oliver had shown her what an actual family was, and how they cared for her as a person and not a possession.

Not long after she was saved, Laurel adopted her, a year down the line, Oliver became her father.

Mia looked around the living room to see countless amounts of cardboard boxes, it looked as if Laurel had been working all day to try to get the ball moving. What they needed to do was burn coal beneath their feet, and direct them to the cool water, that is getting Ollie his fair and fast trial.

What did it matter if he was the Green Arrow or not? He has done as much, if not more than Red, over in Central City. Ollie had stopped Merlyn's Earthquake Device that would have killed her the night of The Undertaking. He had stopped those masked whackos during The Siege, and the ninjas during The Outbreak. He stopped Damian Darhk and then he saved her.

She had even heard Laurel trying to call The White House to try to get Ollie a presidential pardon due to him protecting the world from aliens, but to no avail, officially their hands were tied. Which was political B.S. for; I don't want to because it will make me look bad.

Mia walked past the small towers of brown, and a table full of legal documents and manilla folders to see her mom passed out, with her laptop on her lap, and an empty coffee mug hanging limply from her hand.

Laurel stirred, as Mia gently shook her shoulder after placing the computer and cup on the coffee table. "M…Mia? What's wrong?" Laurel mumbled, groggily wiping her eyes from sleep.

"Nothing, well, not nothing, Willy had P.M'd and asked how Dad was coping in jail?" She then hesitated, biting her lip. "What should I tell the Half-Pint?"

"He doesn't like being called Half-Pint." Laurel half-seriously admonished her daughter. "Tell him that Dad is still going strong and that he sends his love to William."

"And you?" Mia asked, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa, wrapping her arms around Laurel. "When was the last time that you had slept in your bed, Mom?"

Laughed sighed, as she wiped her face again. "Since my Dad was killed, and Ollie was blackmailed into accepting a deal that should never have been made. If I hadn't tried going after Diaz by myself, maybe Dad or I could have…"

"Mom, I learned a long time ago, that if you look back and wonder what if, you will hurt yourself more."

Laurel smiled, "It's supposed to be my job to give you advice, not the other way around."

Mia shrugged, "Besides, Dad's in the protective wing." Upon seeing Laurel blink back tears, she felt her stomach lurch. "Mom?"

"Ollie may be put in gen-pop. That he doesn't deserve the protection of a police officer or an attorney. If The Green Arrow can fight and survive in dangerous conditions they don't need to spend extra money on him."

"But they haven't proved that he is our Emerald Archer, all they have is an uncorroborated and a forced confession."

"Watson has officially been put on administrative leave, and that is because Thea and I had been shouting it from the rooftops. But they have made a strong enough case to warrant him being locked up."

Mia dropped her backpack on the floor, "We need to see Dad."

Before Laurel could stand up, she received a phone call, and picked up her buzzing phone and answered it. After listening to the man on the other end of the line, she hesitantly agreed, before hanging up and looking at her daughter. "Change of plans, Mia. We need to meet an old friend of your father's."

**::-:-:-::-:-:-::**

Oliver sat on the gurney in the medical wing, the sterile tiles, and lights all made the room look unforgiving, and not a place of solace for those sick, injured or maimed. And yet, it was the first time in days since he was allowed outside the confines of his cell.

It somehow felt like a warped sense of liberty, though this _freedom_ came with too many issues rather than boons. He was no longer alone, he was vulnerable from all sides, inmates, and guards alike.

After his bandage was taken off his ribs, all that was left was a yellow-purple bruise on his sternum. Before he could button up his overalls, the curtain was torn open, and Ben Turner, AKA, Bronze Tiger, was standing there with a smug smirk, standing beside two of his men.

"Benjamin Turner?" Oliver asked, feigning ignorance.

"Don't play me," Turner said with his deep baritone voice that had an edge to it. A warning. "How much do you know about Slabside beyond your keep? The protective wing?"

Oliver looked up at him, "I hear enough."

"Then you know what Darhk did to one of my boys?"

To Oliver, it looked like Turner cared about the boy that had been killed. His head was smashed in the shower stall. From what he heard, Turner's ally was only meant to ensure that Darhk was kept away from a certain area of the prison. A warning, and only a verbal warning.

They didn't know Darhk like he did. That Damien Darhk was trouble even without his magic, political and, or monetary clout. He was League trained and was once a horseman to Ra's Al Ghul. He really should have been placed in ARGUS custody. In reality, he should have been dead, an arrow in his body just like he did to _her._

**::-:-:-::-:-:-::**

FLASHBACK

DOMINATOR INVASION

"This is a weird article, Barry. I don't know the laws of Time Travel, or the specifics. I don't care. You need to stop blaming yourself."

Barry spun around on his heels to look at Oliver with a helpless, vulnerable look. As he didn't the weird futuristic tech stopped projecting the newspaper article. "This is all my fault."

Oliver shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe, maybe not. But Barry, you said you were surprised to see Laurel and her daughter." In truth, lately, Oliver had been feeling as if Mia was his own child, and no different to William. "That Thea had used her inheritance from Malcolm Merlyn to buy back Palmer Tech, and name the company to Queen ?"

Oliver was almost certain why, and that was one of the reasons he hadn't berated Barry for Flashpoint.

"I… When I came back from Flashpoint. It changed stuff, you know, it changed Sara Diggle, to John Junior. Well, somehow it rewrote history to what you know it as. That Laurel had been stabbed by the arrow that you had shot, and out of some kind of defense mechanism, Laurel developed her metahuman power, and knocked out Dark and destroyed The Khushu Idol beyond repair. In the original timeline… She didn't make it, and you never met or saved her adopted daughter from the life that she was living."

Oliver took a step forward and embraced the young man that he considered his baby brother. "You saved Laurel; you gave her a second chance. You gave us a second chance. And I'm forever in your debt."

**::-:-:-::-:-:-::**

PRESENT TIME

As the former mayor of Star City, I can tell you that you shouldn't send your men anywhere near him. He's not a normal man like you or most of the people in these prison walls." He's League trained.

Turner chuckled, as did his two inmate guards. "I don't think you understand, Queenie. It only takes one assumption for someone to kill you. Darhk thought my boy was an assassin. So he killed him. It's a parable. It doesn't matter who you are, only what they think you are. And if they believe you are Robin Hood, then there are a lot of convicts here that have a grudge, and will enjoy shoving a shiv in your liver."

Oliver gritted his teeth, "Let me guess, you think I'm The Green Arrow? That I have skills that you could use in here, and in return, you protect my liver?"

"Got it in one."

Oliver feigned a snigger. "I'm a reformed playboy, a former public servant, and a devoted father and husband. Why on earth would I risk my family and my life for vigilantism?" It was a good question, and one that he had been asking himself since he had met William, and the question had kept niggling at him since he had married Laurel, and adopted their daughter. "You are wasting your time, Turner."

"We ain't the same, but you have to pick a side, Queen. Especially if you want to live to see Lance and your two kids. You haven't been in contact with Brick, nor Zytle. And I know that even if you aren't Green Arrow, Oliver Queen and Damien Darhk have bad blood. I can protect you, but it doesn't come free. You better be quick about it, Queen."

It wasn't long before he was escorted back to his quarters, only his guard was taking him in a different direction. Oliver looked around, trying to remember if he had been down this specific hallway before until he noticed that his guard was sweating. It wasn't even hot. Not even remotely.

Something was wrong. And it wasn't until the guard opened the adjoining door, and saw Brick and his men standing there as if they had been waiting for him. The guard was quickly knocked out and shoved to the side.

"No cameras, no witnesses. No need to try to pull the wool over our eyes, Green Arrow." Brick's voice carried through the room.

Oliver tensed, "This is a mistake. You don't want to do this."

Brick continued to grin at Oliver, but he was undeterred about any threat Oliver could pose. Oliver was still a small fish in this pond, Brick though was a shark.

"Oh, but I do. If you're the Emerald Archer, then I know who the Black Canary is. She put me behind bars twice. And now it's my turn to use you to get to your beautiful wife. It's time that she gets what's coming to her. You have two minutes until guards come here in numbers. Either: A; You will return to your wife in a body bag or B; You will have some explaining to do."

A second later, Oliver ducked under a blow. He had to be careful to use soft martial arts, he had to make the narrative Laurel had carefully constructed that he was just the average person. That he had to maintain this image of a father and devoted husband.

The only issue in his plan would be that these people were in the same gang.

Oliver ducked beneath another blow, sending his elbow into another's neck. In doing so he just missed a shiv to his artery, instead, it had nicked the edge of his jaw. The sting was enough to remind him that he had to train the best he could while he was trapped here.

While this was like a picnic in comparison to Lian Yu, and his five years in hell, this still was far from a utopia. No, that would in his own home, sitting watching some boring movie with his family. It didn't matter if it was one of those sappy teen dramas that Mia loved. All that would matter is that he was at home, with his family. All of them. Laurel, William, Mia, and Speedy.

After the thugs were dealt with, Oliver knelt down and raised his hands to his head around a group of knocked out and bloodied men

The guards came in with riot shields and batons. "Get on your knees, convict! That's it, no sudden movements." They said, before roughly hauling him off into the hole. They would be sending a doctor to him with an armed escort to him in solitary confinement.

The whole time he was dragged off to solitary was how he had failed his family. Laurel was working around the clock, the last time he had seen his wife, she had dark bags around her eyes from little to no sleep. And no, he had just made all of those sleepless nights amounted to absolutely nothing.

**::-:-:-::-:-:-::**

Laurel and Mia walked in and stood by the reception desk with Mia leaning against the wall chewing gum. "Dad won't be happy about this."

"It is the only way. He will understand when he finds out," Laurel said, though even to her own ears it sounded hollow. She didn't like pulling the wool over Ollie's eyes, they had long since put behind keeping secrets from one another.

Mia shrugged her shoulders. "I still think he will be rocked by this and will lash out."

Laurel knew that would be the case, and yet, she needed to do this. It was the only way. Laurel swallowed quickly, and moved to the reception area, "My name is Dinah Laurel Queen. I'm here to speak to my client, Oliver Queen."

The guard sitting at the reception desk looked at her with a bored expression. "Convict 4587 has currently been detained in Solitary Confinement. He is currently not at liberty to be visited by family members at this moment."

Laurel squared her shoulders, "I'm here as his attorney, not his wife. My daughter is here as my paralegal. A family law firm. Now, if you want to keep depriving my client's right to his civil liberties, I will dismantle this entire prison and all of its employers including yourself. All it takes is one call."

The guard looked at Laurel as if to gauge whether or not she was bluffing, before taking an audible sigh and buzzing the security door. "4587 will be waiting for you and your… Paralegal in the visitor's wing."

Laurel gave the man a small smile that didn't reach her eyes, before walking with Mia down the long corridors.

" You scared the pants off him. I bet there is a brown stain in his pants now."

"Dad always said I lived to argue."

Her daughter snorted, "Quintin was a good man." She waited for a second, before asking. "Are you sure that _his_ man is ready?"

Laurel gave a hesitant nod, she didn't trust the man as far as she could throw him, but Ollie did. "He said that he had everything ready." Laurel stopped short of the visitor area, "Are you sure that you will be fine with this? There will be blood, and I can't promise that you will be safe."

"As long as you and Dad are alright, I will deal. I… I just don't want to lose the family that you and Dad have built for us. The life that you have given to me after you and him, saved me. After we found out about me having HIV you both paid for my medication. Without ever asking for something in return. It… It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me."

Laurel stooped walking and immediately wrapped her arms around her daughter. She remembered how Mia had offered to back her bags and was too willing to leave after receiving her results, just too spare herself from the rejection, only her daughter received anything but rejection. "You have been through so much, and I'm sorry I have to add to it. But I promise after all is said and done…"

"I know," Mia said.

"I love you."

I love you, too." Mia repeated as she relished the warm embrace her mother gave her.

**::-:-:-::-:-:-::**

Oliver sat on the edge of the mattress; he had been in worse conditions than a sanitary tiny room. He didn't know how long he was in here, hours? Surely no longer than a day?

He was nearly blinded by the light outside, as the steel door creaked open. "4587, Your Lawyer is here."

Oliver walked down the long dark hallways until he was directed into a door, and moved to his seat, to see Laurel and their daughter. Laurel looked tired, with a hint of fear in her eyes that she was trying to hide from him. Mia on the hand looked too stoic. She was shutting herself from her emotions, likely a survival mechanism that she had learned.

"Hey, Pretty Bird." He breathed, despite her looking exhausted, seeing two of the most important people in his life made him feel lighter.

Laurel smiled and raised her hand to the translucent material separating them. "Ollie…" She then noticed his bruises and nicks from his fight. "I thought that we agreed that you would be keeping your head down?"

Oliver swallowed, "I had no choice, trust me before this I had kept my head down, avoiding everyone I could." He then looked over at their daughter, "I'm almost finished The Count of Monte Cristo, thank you for lending it to me, Sweetheart."

Mia's head bobbed, "I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I missed you, Dad, and so has Willy."

Oliver's smile faltered slightly, "How's William? I thought that Sam was keeping William as far away from me to keep him safe?"

"Apparently William has a bit of a rebellious streak in him. Besides, he was talking to his Big Sis."

Oliver chuckled. He had missed hearing his daughter's voice. "I thought only my lawyer could visit me after everything that happened?"

Mia snorted as she crossed her arms, "You should have seen Mom, she threatened to dismantle the entire prison including everyone it employs for depriving you of your rights, and when they mentioned me, she without blinking told them that I was her paralegal."

He looked over to his beautiful wife to see her cheeks redden slightly. "I'm doing whatever it takes to protect our family, Ollie."

"I saw The Starling Times, a few days ago, tell me that it wasn't you who was in the suit."

"I haven't had the time to be in my suit let alone yours, Ollie. But it's the first piece of good news that I have seen or heard in the news recently about you. Ollie, it causes some reasonable doubt as to whether or not you are The Emerald Archer."

"So, you have to try to not getting into any brawls over toilet paper, who mounts who." Mia dryly said with a small smirk.

"You're quite lippy today."

Mia shrugged, "A remnant of me living on the streets."

"Just try not to speak like that Mia, you're better than that," Oliver said seriously, before looking back at Laurel. What brought you here and provoked you to start ruffling some feathers?"

"The Feds want to put you in gen-pop."

Oliver closed his eyes, it made sense, it made things easier if he was dead before the trial. The issue of Watson extorting him would disappear, meaning no internal investigation into the FBI, they could say, his entire testimony on the corrupt SCPD and parts of City Hall being the ravings of a then mentally disturbed man. Everything would be swept under the rug.

Laurel seemed to notice how he was feeling despite him trying to hide it. "Ollie, I know that this is likely a way to have them sweep everything under the rug because if you went up on the stand and proclaimed you are innocent, along with numerous other people who know could provide testimonies in your favor that would be the end of it and you would be a free man. "

"How's Speedy?"

Laurel smiled, "She and Walter Steele have purchased a couple of factories and businesses in Gotham, Coast and Central City and a couple of small locations in Seattle. She said a few weeks ago that she had offered to give William and Mia an internship when he comes of age."

"The others?" He asked. Laurel had barely spoken of John, Curtis or Rene.

Mia spoke up before Laurel, "Uncle John has joined his wife at ARGUS, and Curtis is working in Central City under the Robert Queen Applied Science Division that works closely with STAR Labs to provide Police with technology to help them with metahumans. Rene moved to Keystone where Wildog now operates and Felicity is still a prisoner of ARGUS after releasing Cayden James."

"Ollie, since you were mayor, and accused of being a vigilante that has had a large impact on the criminal underworld, they shouldn't be able to send you there. But after yesterday with your fight, it does make it harder even with Green Arrow stalking around the city."

"Laurel, there were no cameras. And there is no prisoner that will say a word about it." Brick didn't want to risk a longer prison sentence than he already had to his name, nor did he want to deprive himself of any of his liberties.

He wouldn't tell Laurel that Brick had attacked him to get to her. She had enough to deal with and didn't need her guilt to be compounded on top of the stress that she was already handling.

"I swear to you Ollie, I will do whatever it takes to get you home and back to us. Just hang on a little longer and just… persevere through anything that comes your way, promise me, Ollie?"

Oliver bit his lip and nodded. "I promise, Pretty Bird."

"I love you," Laurel said, kissing her fingers and pressing them to the protective plastic.

"I love you two so much, send my love to Speedy and William." He said mimicking his wife's gesture.

Oliver was escorted back to his solitary quarters, where there was a note sitting on his mattress.

_Oliver,_

_The lesson has nothing to do with your stint in solitary confinement. While it's not possible to hurt you, your family isn't. How many times must you learn that your family is your weakness, Oliver? How can you protect your precious daughter or your_ _Pretty Bird_ _behind cement walls and steel doors?_

Oliver crunched the note in his hand, as he slammed on the door, only no one came. He could hear Mia screaming in the distance, and people groaning before everything when silent. "Laurel! Mia! Someone, please help my family!" Oliver bellowed helplessly through his door. It was hours before he found out what had happened.

Laurel was ripped from him, and there was no one that could fix it this time. Laurel was gone, his soulmate, his love was ripped from him, by someone in this prison and they were going to pay. Brick was going to pay.


	2. Locked in With The Arrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to Okoriwadsworth for pre-reading this chapter.

The rain mirrored his mood. It should have been blue clouds and warm sun, for the day that Laurel was going to be farewelled from this earth. On either side of him were two burly cops, both with shotguns. 

Oliver gritted his teeth and moved his wrists slightly, feeling the handcuffs chafing against his skin. Laurel didn’t deserve this. He looked up from her gravestone that Thea had paid for, and looked on the opposite of his wife’s casket, was Thea wrapping her arms around his daughter. His sister was doing everything he couldn’t. 

Not far from Mia and Thea was Samantha and William, he didn’t expect them to come to Laurel’s funeral considering the media would latch on to them like a dog with a bone. 

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…”

Oliver kept looking around, this was his fault, it all led back to one thing. Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow. Without him donning Yao Fei’s hood, Laurel would never have become Black Canary. 

He allowed his armed escorts to start to pull him from Laurel’s grave. He didn’t deserve to say goodbye to her. He should have done something, tried to break down the doors. Snap Brickwell’s neck before he could have targeted Laurel. 

And now his eldest is more or less an orphan. He couldn’t guide her or protect her from behind iron bars. William no longer had an available father. For all of his Dad’s faults, he was never a failure at fatherhood like Oliver was now. Quintin, Slade, Maseo all loved their kids, the latter often had to spend a long time away from their children, and yet they could still support them. Oliver couldn’t. Not from behind bars. 

It would be so easy, just taking his daughter and running, take her to France or Russia. But what would that teach her? Besides, he couldn’t let someone like Daniel Brickwell target his family without him receiving justice. 

“Ollie…” Barry called out to him. 

But his friend was intercepted by one of his guards. “Step back, Sir.”

Barry was careful not to use his speed. “I’m offering my condolences. He needs to know that this wasn’t his fault.” He then looked at him. “Ollie, this isn’t your fault, she would want you to know that.”

While Barry was dealing with the guards, Sara had managed to sneak around. He smiled at her, he was glad that she could have made it to her sister’s funeral. “Sara..”

“Don’t Sara me! You got her killed, she was brought back and you allowed her to be killed again!” Sara got up closer to him, “I wish that you stayed dead after Ra’s slew you.”

One of his guards cocked his weapon. “Step back, Ma’am. 

It looked like Nyssa had carefully moved Sara from the confrontation. He looked over at Thea, who was no longer with his daughter, as he looked around to see her done up blonde hair, near Samantha. Mia was giving her brother a tight hug.

Oliver let out a shaky breath as he was hauled into the back of the van. He saw Thea and called out to her. “Look after my kids, Speedy. You are all they have now. Please, promise me?”

His sister nodded and looked like she wanted to tell him something, instead she said, “I made a promise, Ollie. I love my family, they will be safe.”   
  


**::--:--:--::--:--:--::**

He didn’t even notice that he was put back in solitary confinement. Everything was a blur after he had been assured by his sister that she would look after Mia and William. But now that he was here, he would never be alone. Not really. He now had something to think about while he was here

He could still hear Laurel’s screams. And he did nothing. Why didn’t he try to break the door down?

He punched the cement wall, relishing the pain that he deserved. 

He could hear his daughter’s shrieks. And he did nothing. 

Another punch, into the wall, his knuckles were now bleeding and raw. 

It was a common theme with him and Laurel, him doing nothing, or running away. He may never be able to make it up to his wife, but he could ensure that the man who targeted her would never harm his family again. He would get justice for Laurel. 

Barry said that in a previous timeline he had stabbed an arrow into Damien Darhk because he had done the same to Laurel. He was going to drive a shiv into Brick’s belly as his men did to her in this timeline. 

Laurel was always the person that made him strive to be a better man, to become Green Arrow. The Emerald Archer and Black Canary kept the darkness within him and diminished it. 

But now these criminals were going to learn just what it was like to be trapped in the dark. He wasn’t stuck in with them. They were trapped in the darkness with him. They were about to meet the real Oliver Queen. They were going to meet The Arrow.

_ “This is not the way.” _ A familiar, comforting voice said to him. 

And yet, Oliver didn’t want to hear him. “You're not real,” Oliver said, taking another punch to the wall. It was only a slither of what his wife and daughter felt. 

_ “Does it matter?” _ Yao Fei’s ghost asked.  _ “Are you going to throw away your life on revenge? You still have a family. A daughter, a son. Your children are more precious than revenge.” _

“This is who I am. What the island and five years in hell made me.” He was a killer. Fyers saw it in his eyes. Waller used him for it. So did Anatoly and Talia. 

_ “No. You did what you did to survive. You listened. Shengcún. You survived to get back to her. Have family, and now you must be patient and return to them.” _

His hand was bloody, and sore from every punch that collided with the wall. He deserved the pain he told himself. It was a slither of what Laurel had endured as she protected their daughter and took a shiv to the stomach. 

“I’ve been keeping it bottled up, to make my family proud of the man that I have become. My Dad, Mom, Laurel. And now they are all gone. Thea is going to look after Mia and the last time that Laurel had come before… She told me that my sister had hired Ted Grant to keep an eye on William and his mother.” Officially, Laurel’s friend was just William’s mentor and boxing instructor. His son had shown some interest in the sport. “No one was supposed to get anywhere near his family. “Everyone is gone, and there is just me.”

He looked around his tiny cell to see that his friend and mentor had disappeared. He would never know if Yao Fei had come to give him guidance, or if his subconscious was trying to talk himself out of what he had to do. 

His cell opened, and Oliver instinctively knew that it wasn’t the guards. A smaller man walked in. The smaller man had a strange look in his eyes. Stanley Dover. The man that had killed people with his kitchen knife at some of the scenes of the crimes that the Green Arrow had been involved in. 

“Did my eyes mistake me? Or did  _ our _ Mayor of Star City lose his mind after he lost his wife?” When Oliver didn’t respond, nor move a muscle, Dover continued. “Or is Mr. Queen practicing his testimony, trying to emulate any piece of morsel of legal information your late wife provided you over the years?”

Oliver didn’t even move a muscle, which seemed to irk his new  _ guest _ . “I give you respect, you should return it. Two-way street Queen.”

“What do you want?” Oliver gritted out slowly, his bloody hand curled into a fist. 

“I can help you find out who shanked your lovely wife. And the guard who allowed it to happen under his watch.”

“And in exchange, you want me to work for you?”   
  


“Yes.”   
  


“I’ll pass, see that you and your men waiting outside have left in thirty seconds.”

“Pass? And if I send my men to teach you a lesson?”

Oliver looked up with a dark look on his face. “I just buried the love of my life. The mother of my daughter—”   
  


“Adopted daughter.” Dover tried to correct him. “She’s not worth your time and energy, she was just a stray that your soft-hearted wife picked up off the streets, you have no obligation to her.”

Oliver clenched his jaw. “She may not be of my blood. But she’s my child no less than my son.” She was Laurel’s angel. Their daughter. His eldest child. 

He then took a step forward towards the cell door. “If you and your men want to see what I’m capable of, then, by all means, take another step inside my cell.”

“Another time, Queen.”

**::--:--:--::--:--:--::**

As Stanley and his men locked Oliver’s cell back up and walked down a few corridors, he spoke to a man in a cell. “Get all that Darhk? Queen is going to paint the town red when he heads down to gen-pop. It will be interesting when you come down to live with us mortal men.”

**::--:--:--::--:--:--::**

Oliver sat at his defense table alone. His daughter had desperately pleaded with him to be the one to represent him if he didn’t want Jean Lorring. She had been watching and helping her mother for the last few years with legal casework when she could. 

It was his hope that she would become a corporate lawyer, working for Queen Industries, along with her brother, and potentially any child that Thea would bring into the world. Have his family safe and secure while working for the family company. She could do a lot of good from Queen Industries, just as much as her mother did, albeit with more safety measures. 

Instead, he had Mia sit next to her paternal aunt, and John as he sat alone, next to the seat that should have been Laurel’s. He was still half-expecting Laurel to march in as she did all those years ago to save his ass. 

Instead, he nodded when the judge asked him if he was sure that he wanted to defend himself. And he listened and didn’t rebuke when the prosecutor said that he didn’t deserve any preferential treatment. That it didn’t matter if he had worked alongside the police in the past, he was a killer, a thief. A criminal, the taxpayers didn’t deserve to pay more for his security. 

He could hear Diggle muttering something unintelligently to his daughter or Thea. He could only hope they were assurances that he would look out for his family. Digg knew better than anyone that you had to protect your family. 

He then stood up when called upon. “I...Your honor. People may be looking for a way to stop me from having a trial. Gen-pop will be a death sentence.”He had to make the appearance that he was fighting the decision, even if he welcomed it. Whoever has Laurel’s blood on their hands, will soon be on his. 

“Mr. Queen, this is a case regarding you being sent to gen-pop, not about your right to a speedy trial.”

Oliver swallowed. Even if he wanted out, the judge’s statement didn’t bode well. It meant that she was not impartial, that she was already bought. Laurel had told him that she was going to do whatever it took to get him out of prison because the cards were stacked against him, she had only narrowly got the death penalty off the table. 

His heart ached when he thought of her. That Mia was never going to see her mother again. 

His lips, upturned slightly when the judge made her decision known. He was headed to gen-pop. He noticed out of the corner of his eye, Barry shook his head. as if silently trying to tell him not to go through with vengeance. 

But Oliver was never the sort of man to let an injustice go. He was going to fight for those that couldn’t defend themselves. Just like he did for Akio, Yao Fei, and Thea. Now he was going to do the same for the love of his life and to give Mia closure. 

**::--:--:--::--:--:--::**

Oliver was in his new cell, a more spacious accommodation than Solitary, but too open for his liking. From here he could see so many criminals, and they were all stuck in here with him. If he wasn’t looking for blood, he may have been more concerned. 

He looked at the photo of his family, before placing it on the shelf, as he did, Werner Zylte walked into his cell. “Look who has joined us? Did you get irked by the people up in PC where they surround you in cotton wool? Or are you now man enough—”

Oliver looked up from Mia’s copy of Hamlet, that she had given him when she visited before she said that Thea was taking her to Seattle to get away from the public eye of Star for a little while. He couldn’t blame Thea for taking his daughter away from their home. It wasn’t that much of a home now that Laurel was gone. She was his home. Star City didn’t seem as bright without Laurel. 

“You walked into my cell, Vertigo. Not a smart plan.”

“Like I care about some spoilt—” The next thing Zytle knew was that he was slammed against the steel bars of Oliver’s cell, before being thrown onto the ground, and his head meeting Oliver’s foot. The drug dealer’s head meeting the concrete floor with a small thud. 

“Why do you think I'm here? Just to be fucked around by low-lives like yourself?”

Oliver smiled darkly as he snapped the man’s wrist and held it in place, as he knelt beside the drug dealer. “You will tell me all you know, Vertigo.” Oliver sent another punch, this time a liver punch, to cause maximum pain. “Tell me who killed my wife, and who ordered it!”   
  


“I swear, I don’t know anything!”

“Your lying.”

“No, I swear, I just heard that something was going to go down. I just know that someone wanted to send you a message.” The drug dealer wheezed, before Oliver kicked the man in the head again, knocking him out. 

**::--:--:--::--:--:--::**

Barry was tinkering with his equipment in his laboratory when he heard his little television start to discuss the new Green Arrow protecting Star City. 

_ “According to The SCPD, a witness to the murder of Dinah Laurel Lance was found murdered in The Glades. According to Captain Morgan, the information was given to them by someone claiming to be The Green Arrow.” _

_ “In other news, Wener Zytle, known by his street name; Vertigo, was found in the middle of Slabside Maximum security Prison, knocked out, several limbs broken and dislocated and broken teeth.” _

Barry exhaled, he had tried to tell Ollie with the look he gave him not to do something stupid. Barry knew better than anyone what it was like to have a  _ dead  _ mother and a father imprisoned. He just hoped that the plan would come to fruition before Oliver became the thing that he fought. 


	3. Chaos At Slabside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't see my author's note on Loss and Regrets Chapter 10, I was unable to post on Wednesday thanks to a bad storm that knocked out my internet for a few days.

The warden was sweating profusely, as he watched one of the most dangerous kinds of people being brought into his prison. A metahuman. This man possessed the ability to fabricate deadly cards from his own skin. Jeremy Tell, Double Down.

The man was being pushed through corridors, strapped onto a trolley, and bound in a straight jacket. "As per the Meta-Human Prisoner Act of 2018. You will be restrained in your prison and bound, and any avenue to nullify your powers will be done so. You will also be fed through plastic bags and liquid meals."

One of his guardsmen continued, "If you try to escape, or are proving too violent. Gas will be released into your cell, and once you are unconscious I and some of the boys, the ones that you had killed on your last escape attempt will fire one-hundred rounds into your body. Until we can be sure that you are sufficiently dead."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Oliver sat down on the edge of one of the steps of the prison yard, well away from anyone else. As far as the world within these walls was concerned he was a lone wolf. He flicked to the next page of his daughter's books. He supposed that he should relish the book. He likely was going to get another for a long time, or ever.

He supposed he should be happy, or at least Laurel would that he was finally catching up on many of the classics that she had tried to get him to read while in college. Thinking of her, still broke his heart. It didn't feel real, it couldn't be real. Laurel was one of the most natural fighters he had ever seen, and she was killed by some thug with a sharpened toothbrush.

It just reminded him that any day could be his last, all it took was someone to get lucky, and he would be leaving his kids orphans and abandoning his sister and joining him waited patiently, he acted like a model prisoner. The least likely suspect in the recent rise in violence in the prison. Even if he was the one guiding the prison into chaos.

When people are scared, or worried, they reveal things. Things that are usually kept shut. Things like who ordered the hit on Laurel.

The sound of the crunching of the loose parts of the cement alerted Oliver to someone nearby; Guard Thomas Bolt. The man was a lot more intelligent than his colleagues gave him credit for. He seemed to know which way the wind was blowing. He wisely kept his mouth shut and tried to keep to Oliver's good side. Anything to stay alive. People were terrified.

"Mister Queen…. I urgh, so, Dregz... The guard that had his head cracked, the man that lured you into that room, the day that Brickwell ambushed you. I thought that you may like to know that he's on the night shift in a few hours."

Oliver raised his brow, "And why would I want to know something like that, Bolt?"

Bolt scratched the back of his head as he walked back slowly. It was obvious the man was terrified of Oliver. And he hadn't even begun to show the prison what it was like to be trapped within the confines of these walls with The Arrow.

"I thought that… Never mind, I'm sorry to have bothered you, Queen...Sir." Bolt said before resuming his patrol of the yard.

Oliver hid his small smirk behind his daughter's novel. Chaos was his way to the top of the food chain. His plan was already bearing fruit. Guards were already turning on each other. With no comradery between them, they won't be able to hold their ground against the rising tides.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

It was past dinner time when Oliver followed Guardsman Dregz down a long corridor that leads to the laundry room. There was no escape for his prey, the hallway had one way out, the laundry had no way out, besides the industrial doors, that could only be opened from the outside. Which meant the only way out for Dregz was through him.

As his target walked under one of the lights, Oliver threw a cake of soap, shattering the glass on top of the guardsman, and concealing Oliver in the darkness he quickly shoved the man against the wall. His hand resting around Dregz's neck. "You led me into a trap not twenty-four hours before another guard allowed my wife to be killed in front of our daughter…" Oliver blinked away his tears, he could rest once he had brought closure to Mia, and Laurel's ghost. "Why!? And I hope that whatever they paid you was worth it."

His target was crying, "I swear, you have it all wrong! I was just told that they wanted to have a talk, to break bread. There was no mention of what happened. I swear!" He took a deep breath, "I'm just trying to survive here to make ends meet. I have kids, and I almost had my head caved in."

Having children was no excuse for what he did. Oliver had his own, and he could just easily have died. In fact, he would have rathered being the killed that day, instead of Laurel the day after. He could rest easy knowing that Laurel would be safe with Mia on the outside, enjoying the sweet smell of flowers. Why did she die instead of him?

"Brickwell was the one who brought you?"

"One of his men, I think, but yeah."

Oliver released his grip on the man's neck. "I'm in Block A, Brick's in Block C, how do I get there?"

Dregz rubbed his neck, "You would have a better knowledge of the prison, I've seen you skulking around in your free time. Just remember that there are many cameras that are hidden for the staff's safety.

Oliver walked away slowly, not before he looked over his shoulder. "If you are worried about your family, get another job. A family has already lost one of their parents. No other family should lose that to this place."

"You're...not going to kill me?"

"Look after your family. Leave this place and I won't have to." Oliver said before sneaking off to one of the supply rooms to fashion a face mask out of some linen. It wasn't that he didn't know how to avoid security cameras, he had done it for a living, as a vigilante. But time wasn't on his side. He needed to get to Brick and be back in his cell ASAP.

With his face mask, he was able to sneak around. If any cameras caught sight of him, they would never be able to pin it on him. After all, if the media and the cops can't identify the person in his suit, they can't ID him.

Oliver tackled Brick's sole goon that was on protection detail, before slamming his head into the side of the doorframe. He could hear Laurel's voice in his mind assuring him that as long as they couldn't identify him, he couldn't be shoved back into solitary. He couldn't be punished, even if they suspected he was the one to assault the victims.

Eventually, he made it into Brick's cell. Silk sheets that act as drapes to cover the cell from prying eyes, a Persian rug on the floor, and a small radio sitting on the shelf.

"Why am I not surprised that you have more luxuries than the common prisoner?"

"Queen!" Brick said in surprise, before pulling out a shiv and taking a long swipe that narrowly missed Oliver's stomach.

"Not like any Queen you have met." Laurel and Thea were kind and good. They didn't have the darkness that he had within himself. Brickwell was going to find out just how much he was out of his league. Oliver Queen was gone, he had let The Arrow take control, anything for his daughter and for Laurel.

Oliver sent a heavy right hook to the man's face and watched the glorified bald thug stumble backward, and wipe the blood dripping from his lips. "Go and scream, tell the guards that I'm here, they are under your payroll right?"

"I don't need their help against a ponce like you! I may even sell the right to end you to the highest bidder when I defeat you."

Oliver bobbed and weaved around Brickwell before sending a sharp knife hand strike to the back of the man's neck before sending a hard jab to the man's shoulder. Two nerve clusters that Slade had taught him when he taught him how to fight.

Brick fell to his knees, trying his best to melt into the corner of his cell. Oliver picked up the make-shift knife and towered over Brick's cowering form. "Was it you?"

"What are you prattling on about Queen?"

"Did you order the hit on my wife in front of my daughter when I was locked in solitary?" Now that he was here with Brick, it felt too easy, too coincidental, that these events were organized by Brick. The man had a beef with Laurel, he would have wanted to be the one to drive the blade into her throat, not allow a middleman. "Who killed Laurel?"

"Not one of my boys." He groaned. "I ensured that after I found out. If she is who I think she is, she needed a bruising before _I_ ended her."

If that was the case, was there someone pulling the strings? Someone was trying to ruin his life. Someone wanted him to hear Laurel's final moments and was unable to do anything. "Who paid you to have me put in Solitary?"

"Someone on the outside."

"I want a name!" Oliver growled and raised his fist into the air as an incentive to keep talking.

"A guy on the outside, someone called Billy Wintergreen."

Oliver froze and reeled back. _Billy Wintergreen._ The bastard that had tortured him. He was dead. Slade had impaled the man with his own sword. Even if he was somehow resurrected, which was not out of the realm of possibility, why wait over a decade for revenge, and why not target Slade?...Unless Slade too had been killed?

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Oliver stood tall in The Warden's office. Warden Windrow was looking quite unwell, judging by the way he was squeezing the stress ball in his hand, and antacids on his desk, he would assume that the man had high blood pressure, something that would be understandable in his line of work.

"Mr. Queen. The unrest that this penitentiary has been experiencing in the past month has to cease immediately."

Oliver cocked his head to the side and shrugged slightly. "And how exactly am I responsible for this rise in tensions?"

Windrow gave Oliver an exasperated look, "The prison had a status quo, it was relatively smooth sailing, then your wife was murdered, and you were sent to gen-pop. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. And I've watched the news since before you were born. I know what you were like before you returned home from being washed up on a deserted island. Even if you are not— The Oliver Queen I heard about was mischievous and always looking for trouble."

"I've never been one for subtly, Warden. I urinated on a cop once."

The warden removed his reading glasses, "I'm sincerely sorry about your wife. I take full responsibility for her. Maybe I can have the prison direct some money towards your daughter with HIV, poor lass."

"Mia. Her name is Mia and she's as healthy as me. But she has her aunt looking after her, doing what Laurel and I can't."

"I implore you, Mr. Queen to please stop raising tensions in here, I have my hands full as it is."

That caught Oliver's interest. Normally he would have heard something from the grapevine of something that was occurring. "What's happening today?"

"Damien Darhk has been approved for gen-pop."

Another person who had it out for his wife. His Pretty Bird. Unlike Brick, he wasn't the man to have killed her in a different timeline. Was Darhk posing as Billy Wintergreen through a middleman on the outside?"

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Damien Darhk took a seat on his new cot and took a dramatic sigh, before looking at his loyal man. He was surprised when Oliver and his motley crew allowed both; he and Andrew Diggle to keep breathing.

"Andy, I would like you to send a message to Oliver Queen over in A-block."

Andy smirked, "Right away, Sir.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Slade stood beneath the eaves just outside a bodega in the middle of Starling City. He pulled out his phone as he watched the rain descend from the heavens. Before he dialed the number on the burner phone, he lamented that back home in Australia they would be lucky to receive this much rain, especially in the outback.

He dialed the number. "Hello, Thea. Is the package secure? And what of your niece?"

" _Yeah, got them all set up here in Seattle. I'm worried about Ollie though, have you seen the news?"_

"Oliver has come far from the whinging bludger that I met on Lian Yu. He will be fine." It was all going to plan, the only regret he had was that Oliver would likely deck him for the deception. "I'm going to meet him inside the walls."

" _You're going to break in and sling him over your shoulder?"_

Slade chuckled, "Nothing so pedestrian. We are brothers, forged in the hell that was Lian yu. It was bloody torture there. We survived together." For the most part. "And we shall endure his time in prison for however long or short it may be." He didn't intend on leaving his brother to rot in jail and leave his family to be permanently ripped from him.

Slade then broke the burner phone, tossing it the bin, and walked several blocks towards The Glades, and saw a pimp hitting a girl that couldn't have been older than twenty. Slade roared as he ran towards the man and snapped his neck.

A few officers ran towards him, as the woman sobbed from the shock. "Easy, mate. I surrender myself into your custody." As he was cuffed and shoved into the back of the police cruiser, he smiled. "I'm coming kid."


	4. Band of Brothers

Oliver walked in the line towards the mess hall, as he did he was hearing what had happened the night before. Apparently a fellow prisoner who fit the description Mia gave of the man who drove his knife into Laurel was found dead. The official explanation is that he had killed himself with a noose made from his bedsheets.

It still amazed him how quickly information gets passed around in a place like this where time didn't really exist. From what he could gather from what he had overheard from fellow prisoners was that no one, including himself, believed this was a suicide. It had to be Damien Dahrk.

He had the intelligence and the resources to pull a stunt like this. Ra's al Ghul had issues locating and killing this man. His cunning was infamous. Oliver was starting to believe that Darhk had been the puppet master from the beginning. He had one of his Ghosts pose as Billy Wintergreen to keep him on the backfoot. To be paranoid.

After he had his breakfast, Oliver walked back to his cell to see Ben Turner, standing beside a few of his thugs, and surprisingly Stanley Dover. "Turner, Dover." Oliver then noticed that The Star City Slayer was holding Mia's copy of Hamlet.

"I will ask this just once, Dover. Hand over the book." He then glared darkly at the smaller man.

"Chill, Queenie." Bronze Tiger said before snatching the book from his ally and handing it back to Oliver. "My apologies, Queen. This was not a visit with the intention of pissing you off. In fact, it was to form an entente between you and us." He said gesturing between them with his hands.

Oliver gently held the book behind his back, so that his daughter's possession wouldn't be damaged in any potential confrontation. Right now, apart from his photograph and wedding ring, her book was the only way he could be close to Mia, to William, Speedy...and Laurel.

"And what is this coalition banding together against or for?"

"We can supply you with something to gut Darhk. Just like he had Cable did to your wife. There is no way a man can survive with his guts hanging to the floor."

Not so much an alliance, but for Oliver to be their hitman. A man to do the deed, and take the punishment. And as to whether or not a man could survive being disemboweled, he had his doubts, all it would take is a certain kind of mystical water and Darhk is back to his psychopathic life.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not in the market for anything."

"The only thing that was going to be the price was allowing me to have front row tickets. You sure?"

"Do you really think I'm the sort of man that would slice open another man's belly on conjecture and hearsay?" His heart panged, his argument sounded so much like Laurel. Maybe the saying about loved ones living within our hearts is true? He hoped not; Laurel didn't deserve to be living in that cold, inhospitable place.

"I know that you were a party boy, a failed businessman, and a public servant. Now, though… I'm not even sure that you know who you are in your bones anymore. Prison changes you, makes you harder, colder."

Oliver gritted his teeth at the unlikely and unwelcome reminder of Laurel. "Do not presume to know me, Turner. That's not a mistake that you want to make."

"Fine." Turner raised his hand in surrender. "Fine, just a piece of advice then. You don't shank Darhk, you won't be feared. And if no one is afraid of the boy who was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth, what's to stop them from stabbing you in the throat, or the liver? Reputation and fear are the only commodities here."

"Get out of the way! Move Convict 6180"

Oliver, Turner and his men, including Dover, looked over the railing to see the commotion below. Oliver's eyes widened in shock. "It can't be…."

Turner chuckled beside Oliver and patted him on the shoulder. "You can kiss your big bad reputation goodbye now, Queen. Looks like the man behind The Siege of Starling has come to play in the jungle, just how many people have it out for you and yours?"

"Too many to count," Oliver mumbled as he saw Slade walk to his cell with his armed escort.

What the hell was Slade doing behind bars? Hadn't Slade had his fill of prison after The Mirakuru on Lian Yu?

A few moments later, the prison died back down to its usual self. Oliver returned back to his cell and sat on the bed after playing Mia's book underneath his pillow.

Benjamin Turner wasn't exactly wrong, prison had changed him. Changed him back to the hardened stone-cold man that he was before he had returned home. If Darhk was the one to kill Laurel and rip his family in two... If he got his hands around The Former Horseman's neck, would he be able to stop him from snapping it? Would he want to? Or could he even stop himself?

He had tortured Matthew Shrieve for killing Akio. A little boy he adored, but Laurel was so much more, she was his whole world. She kept him alive during those five years in hell, and even afterwards. She was his rock. The mother of his kids.

"Oliver."

Oliver looked up to see Darhk's favorite pawn. Andy Diggle. "Still under Darhk's thumb?"

Andy ignored the question. "Mr. Darhk would like to have a quiet word in the yard tomorrow afternoon."

"I look forward to it."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Oliver sat alone in the mess hell like he did every day since he was brought there. One of the few advantages of people thinking he was Green Arrow was that he was given a wide berth most of the time.

It seemed however, things were changing. "Hey Kid, enjoying your Brekkie?"

Oliver looked up to see Slade make himself at home next to him. "What do you think, Slade?"

His friend, his brother hummed slightly. "I don't know what to think. I'm not even sure the man that I had mentored is still in there." He said pointing at Oliver's chest. "Everyone from Star City to Central, hell, even _Seattle_ are hearing in the news that you have lost your marbles."

Oliver looked up, "You saw Mia and William?"

"Kid, in here you are locked not just inside these walls, but inside your own mind. You're stewing about things that you have concocted in your own mind. Reality is distorted here. if it didn't contort and distort your perception, you would have known it was me, when people started mentioning Billy." You have more in your life than your friends, your sister, and your kids. "

Slade then pulled out a small business card and handed it to Oliver. _Sherwood Florist._ It was the one thing that I was allowed to keep, and I'm giving it to you. There are things happening, gears moving that you had to be left out of the loop to make this work."

"What do you mean, Slade?"

"Better watch your back, Deathstroke! You killed a lot of people's families during The Siege. " A fellow inmate moved slowly towards Slade in an attempt to intimidate the former ASIS agent. One of the most dangerous people Oliver had ever met.

"I'll show you how to bloody watch their back, mate!" Slade roared as he jumped out of his seat and slammed the convict's head against the table before wrapping his hands around the man's neck.

"Stop Slade!" Oliver said, rising from the bench.

Slade turned to look at Oliver with his one eye. "So the man that your precious Birdy loved so much is still in there. It's important to remember who Oliver Queen is. He isn't Convict 4587." No Oliver Queen is a father, husband, brother, friend. " I'll be around, keeping an I on you, mate," Slade said before walking off in the direction of his cell.

"Queen! What the hell happened here?" Asked one of the guards.

Oliver stopped and shrugged before getting up to leave for his own cell, to get ready to meet Darhk later in the day. "He just fell, Yorke. He slipped and fell." Oliver then silently left the mess hall. He was glad that someone who knew the real him was inside with him. And perhaps he was not as far gone as he thought he was.

Oliver tapped on the card. Sherwood Florists sounded like something that Thea or his daughter came up with to make fun of him. He found himself slightly smiling at the name. Was that where Mia was staying or working?

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

When Oliver returned to his cell, he noticed that his sheets were disturbed, he moved the sheet on his bed to reveal a sharpened toothbrush. Oliver let out an annoyed sigh, Turner and his gang had given him an unwanted gift. And yet, he picks up the improvised weapon and tucks it in his pocket.

Why did Turner, Dover and their gang want him to fight Darhk so badly?

Was today going to be the end between him and Darhk?

Oliver walked slowly towards the yard, he could hear the murderers of fellow prisoners, and guards making bets on who would be the one to walk away from the meeting. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one person who was watching him from afar. Slade.

Once they made it to Darhk and Andy Diggle. "Oliver, my old friend," Darhk said jovially. "Take a walk with me." The longlived man said in a tone that suggested it wasn't a request.

As they walked along the side of the prison walls, Oliver watched as Slade moved closer. His mentor was still far enough not to be considered a threat, but close enough to intervene on his behalf if things went south. A big brother looking after his kid brother.

It felt like old times. Slade watching his back, just like he had during the better part of two years on Lian Yu.

"Why did you want me here? You won, alright? You killed the love of my life."

Darhk tsked. "Is that why you agreed to this meeting, I'm disappointed in you. As both mayor and vigilante you possessed more vigor, intelligence and cunning, or was that just you following Dinah Laurel Lance? Was she wearing the pants in your relationship?."

"People heard you laugh when Laurel was being killed in front of our daughter!" Oliver growled, opting to cut through the nonsense that the other man was weaving. He wasn't going to take the bait.

Darhk chuckled, "Oh sweet Oliver. I was laughing at your pain. Don't get me wrong, if she hadn't used that cry when I had her, she would be six-feet under already." He then had a toothy grin and opened his arms. "If you don't believe me, use that shank in your pocket and kill me."

He should. If anyone deserves it was him.

Instead, Oliver shoved the man against the hard stone walls of the prison. "Who killed Laurel!? Who!?" Oliver bellowed.

"You were never the brains. Use that head of yours, surely there is more than gray matter in that head of yours? Who would benefit from you and I attacking each other, starting a war in here?" He then gestured for a handshake. "We need to rise above our differences. There is a war brewing here, and it will be headed our way. And.." He looked towards Slade. "You are not averse to breaking bread and being friendly with the man who killed your own mother."

Oliver walked away, much to the irritation and ire of people, including Ben Turner and his group.

_Who would benefit?_

Turner at every turn had been manipulating him, forcing him to look at different people to force Oliver to raise tensions within the prison walls. What does he have that could be to his benefit if Slabside is on fire? Does he have an escape plan?

Oliver walked over towards Slade who was sitting on a steel bench enjoying the sun. "Not the harsh sun of home, but it's still the sun. Some things just never change, no matter where you are, even if it seems to."

"Why are you here Slade? And don't bullshit me by saying that you came to see if I had lost my mind."

Slade stood up and directed Oliver to a part of the yard that wasn't currently being used by any prisoners. "I gave a significant amount of money to Thaddeus Cable's family for him to be my inside man. I ensured that his family was safe, and they have enough money to live comfortably."

"You killed Laurel?"

"Cable was an old acquaintance from my ASIS days. He owed me a favor and was already a lifer. So he pulled what you and your friends did to your protege, Roy Harper. Your anger and lashing out was necessary to believe that she was dead. It was necessary for you to be able to be with your family after I broke you out. You were never going to be acquitted, so I put this plan into action."

Oliver froze. Slade saved Laurel. All so when he had escaped Oliver could live with his family. Slade had everyone including Sara aim their ire and attention at him to let Laurel set up their new life somewhere else. "Is Laurel alive?"

"Pipe down." He snarled. " She's living in a flat above a store called Sherwood Florist with new IDs. She and your daughter are waiting for me to break you out. It was the only way that you could be with the people you love."

"Did Mia know?"

"Only Laurel, Mia, your sister, and Allen knew the details. We had to keep it quiet. If it's any consolation, all three of your girls have been feeling guilty about making you believe that Laurel was killed." Slade the clapped Oliver on the shoulder and looking at Oliver with sincerity. " I'm giving you a new chance at life, I suggest you let whoever has taken your mantle to continue, leave Yao Fei and Shado's hood to him. It's time to rest and live and raise your family, mate. That's what Yao Fei and Shado would have wanted. Allen will inform your son's mother, and Miss Lance of what has happened after we have broken out of this place, I have had enough of these sort of places."

"What's the plan?"

"Bronze Tiger, and Dover will be causing a massive disturbance. They had killed Cable because they knew they had a mole. They are going to break out the firearms from the security area, once they have caused anarchic destruction, they will leave by helicopter. That's our way out."

Oliver was going to go home. Laurel was alive. His family was safe and whole. How did he not realize?

_Prison Distorts Reality._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, I will make a dual post for the final two chapters.


	5. Slabside Mayhem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of the two final chapters that are being posted today, due to their shorter lengths. I hope you enjoy the closing act.

Darhk was sitting in the mess hall with Andrew Diggle. Even after everything that he, himself had endured. HIVE being destroyed by Oliver and his band of merry men. His wife had been killed by the urchin Loney Machin.

His daughter, Nora, was safe. He had heard from her that she was happily attending her new boarding school in Coast City.

But with HIVE and many of The Ghosts going underground and moving to greener pastures, Andy Diggle remained. He supposed that the younger man thought that he was the last semblance of his family or normalcy. He had betrayed his brother and turned his back on his child and wife. HIVE was his family.

Darhk looked up from his deck of cards. "The other inmates are being quite odd. They are keeping an abnormally large distance this morning. Do you agree, Mr. Diggle?"

"Yes, Sir. Slabside is going to explode today."

Darhk let out a dramatic sigh and cracked his knuckles. "I think that it is time to do what I asked you to do when this event was to transpire."

Andrew Diggle rose to his feet, "Aye, Sir." He marched off towards the cell of Jeremy Tell.

Darhk smiled, if things were going to get heated, he needed all the advantages he could get. Having a metahuman fight on your side would be a game-changer. It also helped that they had a sort of a rapport with the man in question.

He knew that Oliver would eventually see the error of his ways, and fight alongside them. He would come to realize that he was going to be targeted whether he liked it or not. And that it was better to side with the devil you knew, rather than the one you don't.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Oliver jumped out of his cell once he heard gunshots and people yelling and screaming. He ran towards the office that the Warden would often visit. Windrow was not a bad person, and nor did he deserve to be killed and paraded around the prison, and his body desecrated.

Oliver threw the shiv that _gifted_ to him Into one of Turner's thugs. before snatching the shotgun out of the man's grip and using the barrel of the gun as a baton, and knocking out the remaining two thugs that were after Windrow.

"Queen? I was just alerted to...What the hell is going on down here?"

Oliver dropped the weapon and picked up one of the thug's nightsticks. He smiled as he felt the familiar weight in his hands. Over the years he and Laurel have trained and sparred with this very sort of weapon. Her favorite weapon. It felt as if she were fighting alongside him somehow.

"You have a riot on your hands, Warden Windrow. I suspect that these men were sent to kill you to prevent word reaching the outside before it was too late."

"Turner and his lot are causing havoc to get to myself and Damien Darhk. Take a few men that you trust implicitly and lock yourselves in the security station and call for backup. Don't be a hero, sir."

The warden nodded frantically, sweat dripping from his forehead. "And yourself? There's no need to play the martyr."

Oliver looked over his shoulder as he started to walk towards the chaos. "I have everything to live for. I always had." It only took Slade to remind him of who he was, and what was really happening.

He then ran towards the cells to Darhk, killing people that were attacking him in droves. The man certainly hadn't lost his touch from being a League member. He moved just as gracefully as Nyssa, Ra's or even Malcolm.

Oliver jumped from the balcony and onto one of the men sent to kill him and Darhk. "I knew you couldn't resist fighting with me, Oliver. You finally realized that there is survival in numbers?"

Oliver dodged an iron bar that looked like it could have been bad from one of the bed frames, before relieving it from the man and using it. Everything became a blur, he didn't know how many men's skulls had been fractured, or limbs broken.

This was about survival.

_I'm coming, Laurel._

Oliver swept his leg under another man, only for him to be trampled by the horde of criminals.

_I'm coming home, Mia, William, and Speedy._

"We can't beat them all, Darhk. Not even with our training." Oliver panted as he threw the baton at someone with a gun, knocking him out.

"I'm not stupid Oliver. I have a plan, you don't live as long as I do without plans."

Just then, Oliver heard a loud thud and turned to see Benjamin Turner lying lifelessly on the cement floor. He had two playing cards lodged in his chest just above his heart.

"Bronze Tiger? What did you do, Darhk?" Oliver growled as he ducked and sent a hard punch to his attacker's side.

Oliver turned his head to see Darhk have a sinister smirk: "It's going to plan. I have commandeered Turner's plan to escape."

The helicopter.

Tell dived down to shoot several men with the spray of a shotgun in his hand. The metahuman after running out of ammunition had leveled the fight against them and only a few men.

"Darhk, what are you doing?"

"You, Tell, and I will be heading out. And then you can find out who killed your Canary."

"No." Darhk had proven himself in the past to renege on his oaths, so it wouldn't be long until he decided to attack Star City, or attack his family. He would have to be certifiable to let the man escape the confines of the jail.

Oliver threw one of the many weapons at Tell, knocking him to the floor, and before the meta could retaliate, Oliver ducked behind Darhk. His adversary received several razor-sharp cards into his legs, forcing the former Director of HIVE to the floor, bleeding out.

Oliver rolled to the ground and sent a hard kick to Tell's face, hearing a sickening crunch.

"You let him attack me, Oliver!" Darhk cried out as he applied pressure to his leg.

"Yeah, I did. You belong behind bars. I don't." Oliver walked towards Slade's cell hoping he was still alive. He could still hear the man back when they fought in Star City, mocking him for not learning his lessons. This was proof that Oliver did learn.

"Slade?"

"Kid, You look like hell."

Oliver nodded, touching his busted lip, "Just stopped the riot with Darhk and a metahuman. Why weren't you there?"

Slade's eyebrow rose. "I was busy getting a couple of valuable items for our escape." His brother then pulled out Mia's copy of Hamlet and his photograph of his family. "As a father, I know how important your kids are."

Oliver held back a tear, "Thank you…" He cleared his throat. "You ready to get out of this cesspit?"

"Absolutely," Slade said as he rose from his bed and walked with Oliver towards the roof access. "I thought you would never ask, kid."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter, thank you for taking the time to read this fic, and thank you to all those who have left kudos and comments, I really appreciate it.

The Green Arrow shot a grapple arrow and swung to another rooftop. He had just taken down a drug ring. He still felt wrong wearing _his_ suit. _His_ color. But that's what it was. As far as the world was concerned, Star City didn't have its heroes anymore, they had disbanded. Until the Emerald Archer returned.

Oliver, The Green Arrow, was forced into revealing himself, and subsequently arrested.

Laurel was trying to get her husband released before she was killed in Slabside.

Thea was currently too busy looking after her niece, and her family, and running Queen Industries alongside her step-father Walter.

John Diggle is now an agent of ARGUS working alongside his wife.

And what remained of Oliver Queen's recruits had either set up shop elsewhere or had disappeared into the wind.

Roy Harper, like Laurel after him, shared the same fate. A knife to the gut within the confines of a prison wall. Only that was not the end of their stories.

"Fyff, you said that a rogue aircraft was headed this way?"

" _Right, GA. Slabside had a massive insurrection. The casualty number is currently unknown. The status of Oliver Queen is also unknown. I'm sorry, I know that you two were pretty tight."_

Green Arrow looked across the skyline of his city. "Oliver was one of the first people who gave my life importance. You could say that the Lance-Queen family are more my family than my own blood."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Warden Windrow pinched his brow as he listened to his men discuss putting down the remaining chaos and convicts who remain held up in certain areas of the prison. He was certainly not getting paid enough to deal with this kind of bullshit.

"Sir?"

Windrow looked at the screen one of his guards was pointing at. Oliver Queen was being forced down one of the corridors by Slade Wilson. The Australian Convict had a sharpened blade to Queen's neck. The man that had kidnapped Queen's sister, killed his mother and held Starling to ransom. And yet, there have been sightings of Deathstroke, Slade Wilson working alongside Green Arrow in the past few years.

It was a charade to get Oliver Queen out of prison. A man who had dedicated his life into pumping life back into Star City.

"Delete the footage. We don't know what happened to either prisoner."

Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow, that was clear to him. The man was a hero. And was now a widower. He deserved to find his kids and law, and watch his kids grow. He had saved his brother-in-law back when the ninjas attacked Starling.

After the guard typed, before looking up at The Warden. "It was deleted, sir. Oliver Queen and Slade Wilson are officially MIA, assumed to currently still be somewhere in the prison complex." After an official count was taken, they would eventually report them as missing. Hopefully, that will be more than enough time for both men to disappear.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Oliver sat in the cockpit next to his brother, a relationship that was forged, then reforged again on Lian Yu. He tapped his leg. He was going to see Laurel again, hold her in his arms, feel her heartbeat against his. Feel the warmth of her body. Hear her sweet voice.

Mia was with her, and apparently so was Thea.

That led to one question left if they were now in Seattle, who was parading around in his green hood? Laurel seemed to not know who it was. And despite the deception, she was party to, he believed her. She was protecting him, Mia and herself. And for that, he could never fault her for putting their family first.

"We have to put the chopper down soon, Slade," Oliver yelled over the whirling of the blades chopping through the air. "Thank you, Slade. For everything."

"I'll put it down there." Slade pointed at a flat rooftop. From there you can disappear in your jungle, and head for Seattle. We are brothers, kid. And I can never begin to make up for what I did. I'll always have your back, Oliver."

Soon after Slade put down the helicopter and walked in the opposite direction of Oliver, and looked over his shoulder. "Don't be me. You have a family that loves you, never put that on the line again. It's not something that you risk, not ever." Having said his piece, Slade walked down the fire escape and disappeared into the night.

Oliver sighed, he was right. He, Laurel, Speedy, and Mia had gone through extraordinary lengths to keep them safe. "I promise Slade, thank you."

Oliver jumped across a rooftop, only to be shot with a net-arrow, pinning him to a wall. Oliver grunted as he felt his back slam against the brick wall, only to see Green Arrow in front of him. It took a second, before the man ripped off his own hood, to reveal a shocked Roy. "Oliver?"

"It's me, Roy. Slade broke me out."

"I had heard that he was sent to your prison, should have realized it was a breakout. I could have helped, maybe plan the extraction." He then pulled out a small tactical knife and sliced through the tight cords around Oliver.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, Roy. But why are you wearing my hood?"

"The city needs a Black Canary or a Green Arrow. And while green isn't my color, it fits better than a black suit and blonde hair. Also, who would suspect a dead man to be taking your place? Come with me."

Oliver followed Roy down to a black van, that looks similar to Diggle's old bulletproof van. His former protege opened the back door to reveal a motorcycle, the walls covered in an assortment of bows, arrows and other weapons. "Take the bike to Seattle."

"What?"

Roy smiled, "Didn't you think it was too easy? Laurel being shanked in a prison, and never using her cry, nor her skills?"

"You knew?"

"Not initially, but I put two and two together. Thea has given me access to Sagittarius for weapons and suits. I also have a friend who is my version Overwatch who operates from Keystone." Roy then helped Oliver remove the bike, and then tossed him some clothes and cash. "For the trip. I will pick up the bike in a few days."

Oliver jumped into the vehicle to change his clothes, then shook his friend's hand, before jumping on the bike and heading towards Seattle. Towards his family.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Oliver pulled up in front of a small storefront with the sign of a Robin Hood shooting a bow and arrow. Beneath it was the name of the store. Sherwood Florist.

It looked like the second floor could be their new home, and knowing his wife and daughter, he was one-hundred percent sure that the name was created by Mia. She had that sense of humor. A pun, a double entendre. As long as she could claim innocence, or hide something in plain sight, with only her words. She would do it.

He chuckled lightly as he turned off the motorcycle and headed inside, hearing a small bell ring as he entered. His heart was beating against his chest wall, as he saw Thea sitting at the counter with her feet up, reading some forms, while Laurel was helping their daughter with homework.

"Pretty Bird."

Laurel, without missing a beat, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry, I know we promised to be honest…"

He couldn't care less, she was alive, she hadn't been taken from him. "A lie isn't inherently bad, Laurel. You and the others saved yourself and our family. I'm just sorry that I was hasty into trusting Agent Watson, and we have to start our lives all over again."

"Instead of vigilantes, lawyers or mayors, or a convict, you two are now working for me," Thea said after Mia had a chance to hug her father and give her brother one of her own. "I have missed you, Ollie. You guys will have a comfortable life here."

"I have pretty much everything in this room that I could ever want."

"Willy will be here in a few days, depending on when Samantha can make it out of Central City for the day, and The Streak will be telling Aunt Sara what really happened."

He would get to see William in a few days. But right now, he was home. He was now a florist, husband, and a father. Nothing else.


End file.
